'Mission: Impossible - Fallout': Rebecca Ferguson Doesn't Mind Putting Sticks in the Guys' Wheels

Who says girls can't keep up with boys? Rebecca Ferguson and the ladies of Mission: Impossible - Fallout certainly can, even when it comes to stunts.

"We all have our different goals and agendas in this film," Ferguson told PopCulture.com. "Sometimes they interact, and sometimes we put sticks in each other's wheels, and that creates intense momentum."

That's what director Christopher McQuarrie was looking for in the movie's female characters.

"We were determined to bring a more feminine side to this movie," he said. "And also to give each of those characters' distinct identities by creating strong, grounded roles."

Strong perfectly describes Ferguson and her character, IIsa Faust, a former MI6 agent.

Ferguson admits she enjoyed a little downtime with the ping-pong table in the corner of the studio and dancing quite a bit on set with the cast and crew. But she also honed in on developing her character through diligent training.

"I think the training for me is 80 percent of making this," Ferguson said. "So the stunt coordinator, he creates moves and then I come in and make them mine. It's being in the stunt room, it's creating your own style of the technique."

It's the same rundown Tom Cruise uses to create Ethan Hunt's daredevil ways, developing each stunt scene from "top to bottom" and "the skill" required to execute his performance precisely.

"You wake up every day thinking how can I do more, how can I push this farther, and we were confronting the material every day," McQuarrie said. "And that meant re-writing the script every day, reinventing it every day. And a lot of times, we'd come to work not knowing what were going to do that day."

Ferguson admits that while she didn't do much of the movie's nail-biting motorcycle racing, she did most of the high-powered fight scenes herself.

"A brilliant actress," said co-star Simon Pegg, who plays Benji Dunn and reconnected with Ferguson on Fallout. "I like the fact that Ilsa is a match for Ethan both physically and mentally and she isn't just there to be rescued."

"It's great to see strong female characters emerging across the movie landscape. It's way overdue," Pegg added.

Mission: Impossible - Fallout comes to theaters on Friday, July 27. The sixth installment of the franchise includes Ferguson, Cruise, Pegg and Henry Cavill.

Photo credit: Paramount